ואתנפל וגו׳ AND I FELL DOWN [BEFORE THE LORD … THE FORTY DAYS … WHICH I HAD FALLEN DOWN] — These are the very same forty days mentioned above (v. 18), and it mentions them a second time here, because there is written here (in the next verse) the wording of his prayer, as it is said, “O Lord God, destroy not thy people, etc.”.
ובאהרן התאנף ה׳ AND WITH AARON THE LORD WAS ANGRY, because he listened to you.
the egal
.(אחרי מות AND I PRAYED FOR AARON ALSO, and my prayer availed to atone half, so that only two of his sons died, and two remained alive.
kinda self explanitory
ועתה ישראל AND NOW, O ISRAEL, [WHAT DOTH THE LORD THY GOD ASK OF THEE] — Although you did all this, yet His mercy and His love are extended over you, and in spite of all that you sinned against Him, He asks nothing of you EXCEPT TO FEAR [THE LORD YOUR GOD, etc.].
כי אם ליראה וגו׳ EXCEPT TO FEAR [THE LORD YOUR GOD, etc.]. — Our Rabbis derived from this that everything is in the hands of God except the fear of God
everything is in hashems hands exept the fear of hashem
'לשמר את מצות ה TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD — and this, too, not unrequited, but לטוב לך FOR THY GOOD — that you should receive a reward for doing so.
scar
מרשית השנה FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR [TO THE END OF THE YEAR] — At the beginning of the year it is decided by God what will be right up to the end of it
anser ubove
והיה אם שמע AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IF YE WILL HEARKEN — The word והיה is to be connected with what is said above (): “it drink water of the rain of heaven”.
שמע תשמעו lit: AND IT WILL COME TO PASS IF HEARKENING YE WILL HEARKEN — If you hearken to the old (if you hear again what you have already learnt, i.e. if you repeatedly study the old lessons), you will hearken to the new (you will the more easily gain new knowledge). Similar is the meaning of אם שכח תשכח : If you have begun to forget, your end will be that you will forget all of it. So, too, is written in a certain Scroll: If thou forget Me one day, I will forget thee two days
ואבדתם מהרה AND YE SHALL PERISH QUICKLY — In addition to all the other sufferings I will banish you from the soil which made you sin (Sifrei Devarim 43:29). A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king who sent his son to the banqueting hall and earnestly charged him, “Do not eat more than you need, in order that you may come home clean!” The son, however, took no notice of this; he ate and drank more than he needed, and vomited it up and befouled all the company. They took him by his hands and feet and cast him out of the palace
לדבר בם [AND YE SHALL TEACH THEM UNTO YOUR CHILDREN,] TO SPEAK OF THEM — From the moment when your son knows how to speak, teach him the text
Deuteronomy 33:4) “Moses commanded us the Torah as a possession of the congregation of Jacob” — so that this should be the means of teaching him to speak From this they (the Rabbis) derived their teaching: When the babe begins to speak, his father should speak with him in the Holy Tongue, and should instruct him in the Torah. If he does not do this, it is as though he buries him, as it is said here, “And ye shall teach them unto your children to speak of them, etc.”,